Checkmate
by artemis-nz
Summary: Yuuto, Seishirou, and a game of chess. There's more to both than meets the eye. Vague Seishirou/Yuuto.


"Are you going to move?"

Seishirou Sakurazuka tilted his head back lazily, eyes slightly unfocused.

"Why are you a Dragon of Earth?"

"Hm?"

The blonde looked back at him, curious and slightly wary. He found himself strangely intrigued by the assassin. He was... different. There was something that set him apart from anyone else he'd ever met, even when he was among the other Angels. It wasn't his job, or his powers, or even the fact that he'd killed his own Mother. It was something deeper, psychological. And that piqued Yuuto's interest, because the assasin's mind worked so dramatically contrasted to other people. It also made him edgy, since Yuuto wasn't used to being read so easily. He wasn't used to being an open book, despite his seemingly open personality. The two never had matched up, which is what got people so confused in the first place (and Yuuto liked it that way).

"Why are you a Dragon of Earth?" Seishirou repeated.

Yuuto looked vague, smiling contentedly as he always did.

"I thought you already knew? Everyone else here does. I like to go with the flow of things... suits my powers, you know."

He raised a hand, and the tea, cold in the china tea cup, rose with it to swirl about his fingertips. He let it fall back in gently, so that not a drop was spilled.

"Really? I always thought it had something to do with your wife."

"I don't have a wife", replied Yuuto easily. "No family, sorry. But then, nobody here does, do they?"

Seishirou shrugged, dropping the subject. It surprised Yuuto, who was expecting something more from the man who always smiled.

"I guess I must have confused you with someone else, then."

"Yeah, guess so."

"..."

"... Its your move."

Seishirou pondered for a moment, eying the table in front of him.

"I joined the Dragons of Earth because it was my destiny", he said.

Yuuto thought about this for a moment.

"Everyone here has a destiny, and that was to become a Dragon of Earth. So everyone here has joined for that reason."

"Among others. But I joined purely because of that reason. Kusunagi for his will to protect the earth. Satsuki to relieve her boredom. Nataku for his obedience, and for his Father. But I have no reason save for that I was destined to. It is how it has always been, as it always will be."

"But that would mean you would have no free will of your own", Yuuto pointed out, leaning forward. Despite himself, he was drawn into the conversation.

"Ah, but does it? I did not say that everything is destined. I merely said that I have no reason save for destiny. I can still choose my own reasons for carrying out that destiny. The only difference for me is that I have chosen no justification for my destiny being what it is save for the destiny itself."

Yuuto felt he had stumbled on the reason for Seishirou being so different, and leaned back, relaxed.

"That's interesting. I have to wonder how you came to that conclusion. Because before you did, you must have justified you existence to yourself somehow. Everybody does."

"Do they."

It wasn't really a question. Seishirou removed his sunglasses, and two eyes stared back at Yuuto's; one a tawny, almost soft brown, the other a near colourless blank. It was odd that in spite of having only one eye with which to see, the assassin always appeared to see more than anyone else did.

"Aren't you going to move?"

Seishirou stood up gracefully. The chair didn't scrape on the floor, though it was plain wood with no rug to cover the bareness.

"Perhaps", he said lingeringly, "I never did justify my existence. Perhaps I never attempted to, already knowing that this must be the result."

"If that were so, people would go mad", replied Yuuto, wondering what Seishirou was really talking about.

"No. People go mad when they attempt to justify their existence but fail to do so."

"I guess its a nice theory", said Yuuto cheerfully, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the statement.

"Theory? Oh now, you need only to look around at certain... others, to know it is the truth, or at least one of them. Why, for instance, do you think that Subaru will become the next Sakurazukamori?"

Yuuto didn't look away, even when Seishirou unblinkingly smiled across at him, sunglasses discarded on the table.

"I knew her", he said. "Your wife, I mean. Charming woman... I'm not getting her confused again, am I? She did die by drowning, didn't she? But look at the time, I'm late for an... appointment. Please excuse me for leaving so abruptly. I will of course make it up to you at a later date."

"Its no trouble", said Yuuto, not rising from where he sat. "The tea was cold anyway."

Seishirou slipped his sunglasses back on, then took a step forward and leant down, his mouth close to Yuuto's ear. With one hand, not looking, he moved a piece forward.

"Checkmate", he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. The out-rush of air tickled Yuuto slightly, and when he turned around, Seishirou was beyond the door.

It was at that point that Yuuto decided he hadn't yet quite worked out the mind of one Seishrou Sakurazuka.


End file.
